Velvet underground

The trends from the latest international fashion weeks have yet to trickle down to stores here, but there is one key look you can wear right now: velvet.

The soft, sumptuous fabric is a foil to previous season's obsession with leather and denim, another clue that fashion is moving on and softening up. There was plenty on the runway at New York Fashion Week last week - Marc Jacobs' beautiful floor-length panne velvet dresses, Zac Posen's flirty looking mini red velvet dresses, Erin Fetherston's tailored purple velvet jackets and waistcoats, draped dark green dresses at Jill Stewart, Peter Jensen's plaid velvet, textured leopard burnout velvet dresses at Thakoon and head-to-toe blood red velvet outfits from young label Altuzarra (including velvet heels).

New York's resident It boy designer, Alexander Wang, also sent velvet shoes down his runway - chunky, platformed boots that remind me a little bit too much of boots that my then idols, The Spice Girls, would have worn in 1997.

His collection, inspired by Wall Street, included a plethora of grey chenille and black/maroon/blue velvet tops, dresses, jackets, bras, skirts and, God forbid, pants.

There were an alarming number of velvet pants elsewhere too, a look that I'm scared hip young things everywhere are going to embrace just because Wang did it. If you're attracted to this look or find yourself in a store holding up a pair and wondering whether you could pull them off, just remember that weird thing that velvet does when the pilling is rubbed the wrong way - then imagine that on your ass.

None of that is available right now though, but there are lots of velvet options arriving in stores from our local designers: Sera Lilly's red velvet mini dresses, NOM*d's crushed velvet tops and hoods, Twenty-seven Names velvet skirts, dresses and cape, Salasai's crushed velvet mini skirts, or Stolen Girlfriends Club's cropped velvet jacket ... and jeans.

All are easy to wear and subtle takes on the plush fabric usually favoured by Jarvis Cocker and renaissance fair attendeees. To keep it from looking too festive, keep it to one piece of velvet at a time - and steer clear of those pants.